Too Close For Comfort
by The Power Of Names
Summary: {Set in the film Merlin's Apprentice.} Jack used the wand in an attempt to save himself. An incident that went further than kissing the young squire when Brian's true nature is altered a bit more each time they interact after.
1. Chapter 1: A Change of Mind

_**Chapter 1. A Change of Mind**_

It had begun with two arrows fired in his direction that led Jack back into Merlin's house- the pig following in its own time. He slipped through the door and had just barely managed to shut it when a boy forced his way inside. Jack tried to summon Merlin to help with his problem, but it did nothing more than entice the boy to hit him. The attack, surprisingly strong, resulted in him crashing onto the table while the smaller boy drew a knife. That very knife would have pierced his eye, had he not instinctively reached up to grab the smaller boy's wrist.

"You don't hate me," Jack whispered with a small wave of his hand.

"Not you, but one you have sworn to protect; and with the magic will soon grow powerful!"

"You really like me," Jack tried again.

That one inspired a grunt and renewed efforts to sink the blade into his flesh. Desperate, Jack noticed Merlin's wand sitting on the shelf. It was not something he was trained to use, but at that point anything would have done. Reaching his right arm out to the tool, Jack focused, willing it to his hand.

"You..." he began a third time as the wand finally flew into his open hand. "You love me!"

For a split second, the magician thought it had not worked. Another passed before the knife clattered on the tabletop and Jack found his lips engaged with those of his would-be dispatcher. It shocked him. The kiss was not long, but the few seconds that it lived were full of frustrated and confused groans from the man trapped between boy and table. As it was, he was a bit breathless when they separated after a more solid push from him to the boy above.

"Not that much," escaped him in a gasp.

Unfortunately, it seemed the smaller male was not interested in his protests and Jack found himself pushed roughly to the floor where again he was covered by the enchanted boy. He was so surprised by what was happening that Jack almost missed the other's voice, breathless in lust, telling him that he was the boy's first. That could have meant first anything, but it made him hesitate. Especially when he found himself trapped in a kiss yet again.

"Stop it."

With a strong shove, Jack pushed the boy away causing the other's backside to hit the floor and the tunic that had been held firmly in his grasp to rip. The exposed view made it more confusing to the magician. He gave a smirk.

"Your name's not really Brian, is it?"

"Brianna, but you must promise-"

She climbed onto his lap with a predatory smile. He couldn't resist smiling a bit. One of her hands grabbed his clothes and she pulled him closer.

"I am your man." Only for a tick did his tone read disappointment as he continued, "You really had me fooled there."

He couldn't help it; he closed his eyes and suddenly she was a boy once again.

"Everything depends on it. They don't knight women."

Her hand wrapped around the back of his neck and he reveled in feeling wanted, but knew it could not continue for much longer.

"Don't worry."

Jack had to force his eyes to open because with her words he could not allow his thoughts to stray to the boy she had been. The boy that could have been on his lap seeking to draw life out of him through sweet kisses.

"Only as a knight may I demand what my father begs for. Justice. Through trial by combat."

Jack had stopped trying to return her kisses moments before he realized she was the one who had sent the threatening notes to mistress Deborah. His mind then focused solely on the reasoning, he let her continue to kiss him while the story spilled through her lips

Slowly the magician gave way to the thief with a conscience... He willed himself to give her a few tender kisses before moving so that she was lying on the floor as he stood up. Merlin's wand in hand, he took a step and gazed at her in what was almost sorrowful resignation.

"I'm really going to regret this," Jack looked once more upon her form that seemed so welcoming, "but would you close your eyes for a moment?"

She did and with a look to the heavens, Jack waved the wand at her once again to remove the compulsion to love him. She was a beautiful girl and would probably have been a fun lay, but that wasn't what he wanted. Then he had to consider how she would feel if he took her too.

Not a pretty thought.

It didn't take long, once the spell was off for Brianna to turn back into Brian. The ripped clothing was righted as much as possible and Jack was fixed with a rather upset look.

"Don't worry," he tried to appease the false boy, "I won't tell a soul."

Her voice dropped an octave as she replied, "Of course you won't."

That was quickly followed by a right hook to his cheek that threw him to the ground. In the time it took him to fall, she had picked up an axe and was prepared to throw. He tried to calm her, but nothing stopped her from unleashing it.

Magick had been present for the incident, from the first moment Jack had tried to calm the squire's ire through Merlin's interruption of the flying axe. Now, she did not make it a habit of getting involved with those who dabbled in her gifts beyond fuelling their works; however, this pair of children were something special. The boy especially. They both were more than they seemed and needed each other.

A ripple of excitement rushed through Magick as she decided what to do. The boy needed the knight that the squire would become, but could not love a woman. In turn, the girl needed to become a knight who could protect those in her power, but no girl could succeed in this time. They were bound to one another. With a mother's love she could give both what they needed and watch them allow more to grow from it.

So it was that the girl Brianna was taken into Magick's bosom never to return and with each new interaction would emerge as the boy she currently pretended to be.


	2. Chapter 2: I Wish I Felt Nothing

_**Chapter 2. I Wish I Felt Nothing**_

The squires were progressing through the streets for training. Something Jack was fully aware he should be doing also, but there was a pressing desire to see Brian again. He followed at a distance, using his skills acquired as a thief to be well hidden while close enough to hear. The other lads passed through the large wooden doors that lay beyond Sir Thomas without fuss. Brian would have also, had the old knight not stopped him with a heavy hand to the chest.

"What is the most important task of knighthood?"

Was that a trick question? The magician did not know, but watched carefully as Brian looked the old man in the eyes and answered.

"Service, Sir Thomas."

"Yes, and setting aside the mystery of how your notion of service would be to separate the life of Merlin's new apprentice from his body, we come to the more perplexing puzzle of how you, my best student, have possibly failed to kill him."

 _Brian_ looked down in what Jack would almost guess was shame.

"Well? I'm tempted to beat the reason out of you, Brian-"

That was all Jack was willing to stay and hear. He had seen Brian's eyes dart up to meet the knight's again and caught sight of the flicker of fear that echoed in those stormy eyes. The apprentice knew beatings quite well... lashes could bite into your flesh for weeks, boots would dull to an ache fairly quickly assuming they broke nothing, and the switch stung more than a bee. Those had just been the more common punishments he had received, nothing one as fine as Brian should ever be forced to endure.

The further he thought on such things, the more it occurred to the magical thief that he would rather witness the young squire undergoing a different sort of torture altogether. Boy or girl, the youth had an enticing body. Shoulders that would never grow too broad, but were a perfect width to wrap his arms around. That neck, he knew, must have been crafted by the gods for nothing else seemed worthy of constant bites and kisses. Save the younger's lips, of course.

Then, there was Brian's backside. There was a thing of beauty. He knew, had Brian truly been a boy, that Merlin himself could not have stopped him from sinking into that glorious backside. It was so firm-

Jack froze, shaking his head as though trying to clear it. Yes, Brian may be a beautiful creature, but that did not give the magician the right to fantasize so vividly about what was not his to claim. Perhaps all he could do was hope Sir Thomas was not overly cruel to the squire.

For himself, Jack forced his mind to remember the way to the chamber Merlin had showed him. Perhaps, it he tried, the Grail would be willing to communicate through its pedestal.

Jack was trying to communicate with the Holy Grail when Brian appeared through the archway.

"Am I disturbing you?"

"Not if you haven't come to kill me," Jack replied with an almost humorous smile.

Brian began to walk closer. "I suppose I should thank you for not revealing my secret."

Jack took a step forward as well. "What; and tell everyone I got beaten up by a girl? I'm happy to pretend nothing happened."

The squire couldn't seem to keep the edge out of her voice as she crossed her arms and asked, "Nothing?"

"Nothing I could reasonably be expected to let slip my mind."

Brian nodded, a thoughtful expression crossing her features that was soon masked by new business.

"You know about the tunnel Weston's planning to escape through?" Jack nodded without a verbal answer so Brian continued. "Will they be able to?"

To that question Jack shook his head to the negative and replied, "Honestly, I don't know."

This prompted another nod from the young squire, though a more thoughtful one.

"Do you think it's worse to have a chance to redeem yourself and fail or to never have had the chance at all?"

"Redeem? What did you ever do wrong?"

She looked away, eyes glistening with shame. "To begin with: I was born. More recently, I failed to kill you."

The thief had no response to that; at least, not one the girl would possibly accept. Unfortunately, she did not take his silence well and practically stormed out. He followed her out a few minutes too late to salvage the situation. He did run into Graham, the smith, who helped a few more pieces fall into place by informing the apprenticing magician that Brian was no longer a squire but a page.

Jack knew little about the ways of knights, but he did know that a page was just higher than a rusty blade to an army. If Brian had been demoted... it was possible that she was desperate enough to try to cursed tunnel.

He and Graham took to the tunnels and were barely there in time to save Brian's life. Jack couldn't help the guilt that he felt at having used the wand once more on Brian to make the other do as he wished. When he challenged the enchantment laid by Merlin to allow the two a chance at regaining a piece of themselves, he let himself think on what it would be like if he felt nothing for the youth with the hope of becoming a knight.


	3. Chapter 3: The Submission To Pleasure

_**Chapter 3. The Submission To Pleasure**_

Being ganged up on by Graham and his allies was not something Jack was overly surprised at. Hearing that Weston was ready to surrender and being challenged to fight for his life... those were a bit more of a surprise. The shock came when Graham prepared to strike a blow and Brian drew his own blade in Jack's defense. Though, hearing Brian say it was the Grail that sent him to protect the enchanter was certainly amusing. Would have been more so if Jack hadn't been so in awe of the young knight's skills.

Jack felt as though he could watch Brian move for an age and would never tire of it.

That didn't stop him from feeling relieved when the Lady Yvonne stopped the fight. He gladly accepted her price of seeking the truth in exchange for seeing Brian safe from the sharp end of Graham's blade. Once they two were agreed that it would take place, that lady and Graham wandered a short ways away where they partook in a sweet-seeming kiss. The sight was lovely, but it made Jack hungry for a love of his own.

Brian was the only person that his heart seemed to dance to though.

A slight hesitation held the magician before he reached out and ran his fingers down Brian's arm. He would have been happy with a peck; however, there was no way he was going to stop the knight from the feverish kiss that followed. Brian's arms wrapped around his neck, pulling the taller male down into a series of kisses. Kisses which increased in intensity when Jack lifted his partners smaller figure up and found his stomach prodded by a hardness from his knight's groin. Brian's legs wrapped tightly around his waist and their merry engagement continued.

At one point, though, Jack felt the need to pause and whisper to his boy.

"Who needs Merlin's wand?"

Brian smiled at that and promptly resumed kissing his mage until they were interrupted by Graham clearing his throat. In that moment, Jack hated the smith turned knight. Still, he released the hold around the smaller boy's body and let him slide to the ground; a laugh in both their faces.

"It's... uh... it's nothing." He cleared his throat as Brian crossed his arms trying not to flush crimson. "It's a little joke."

Then Yvonne had to comment. "Camelot's best sword is of the fairer sex and you call that nothing? Why I did not see it before, I do not know."

"Revolutionary." Of course, Graham had to pitch in too. "My compliments, Lady Knight."

Neither Jack nor Brian felt any need or desire to correct them. After all, both were fairly certain that Brian had been a girl through the training and neither truly knew what happened. They were saved from thinking too deeply on it by the Lady's desire to know what hidden truths were inside of her.


	4. Chapter 4: Taking The Fall

_**Chapter 4. Taking The Fall**_

As Jack watched Weston crumble to dust, he knew in his heart that the Camelot of old was dead. He knew that a battle raged outside and that his beloved knight was in the middle of it. The stain was not a spot, it was a dye that tainted everything. There were still a few points of light that existed though. Yvonne and Graham, their love so chaste. The children that survived with the hope of returning to a better home.

Brian.

The boy he had needed without truly knowing it. His loving defender with stormy eyes. The jewel of his heart worth more than anything he had ever had the opportunity to steal. The one who, now that he'd had time to think it through, was a blessing from Magick itself. If that was not something pure, the enchanter could think of nothing else that was.

The Lady of the Lake came to speak with him. Her words became painful when she told him the battle was over and there was nothing he could do for his companions. In that instant, he knew it meant his Brian had fallen also. His heart clenched painfully and when she finally finished speaking, the enchanter banished her, his mind finally made up about what to do.

With heavy steps, Jack knelt before the Holy Grail and spoke his words carefully.

"I have never proved myself worthy. I cannot do so now. I beg this gift for those that cannot ask it. Undo this madness and do with me what you will."

He barely hesitated between finishing his offer and touching the chalice. The moment it connected with his fingers, though, he felt a gentle warmth rush through him. Without ever truly knowing how, he knew it was Magick. It filled him with hope and in that moment, Jack knew his request had been granted. He knew that Brian would be waiting for him when he left the cavern.

There was no other feeling that could compare with that... save the moment, he came out and saw his knight kneeling in the crowd.


	5. Chapter 5: I Know You

**_Chapter 5. I Know You_**

Jack stepped into the room to find Brian pounding away at a sword on an anvil. The sight of his small lover hard at work, a beautiful sight; didn't mean there was no reason to play with him a bit though.

"Who on Earth are you?"

The younger boy looked over at the magician with a smile before dropping his tools.

"Very funny." Brian gave the sword still in his hand a few experimental slashes, then turned to Jack to ask his opinion. "What do you think?"

Naturally, the taller man was still in a mood because his reply was merely, "That is almost perfect. You know I could just sort of..."

"You could, but I prefer you use your magic for other things." Brian set the blade down and moved to embrace his partner which was rewarded when Jack leaned down to give him a kiss. Then, since he knew they could speak freely, Jack decided to tell his little knight what he had been up to.

"I saw Merlin."

"I know. I heard."

"You heard?"

"The pig told me."

"Pig told you." Jack repeated with a playful look of skepticism. He gave the boy another kiss and then continued, "What did he say?"

"He said, that tonight is a very auspicious night for sowing seeds of next year's harvest."

"Oh?" With a mischievous smile, Jack plucked Brian off the floor and into his arms. "What the pig says goes."

Brian gave him an inviting smile before leaning over to blow out the candle on his worktable.

"How am I to argue with that?"

No more words were necessary as the two made their way to bed to fully enjoy one another.


End file.
